Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-02-23
WOMEN IN MEDICINE.
A Plea for Giving Them Equal Ad-
vantages with Mon.
Che Employment of Women Ia a Profess
siOnal Capacity Not New Idea-why
Every Barrier To Noman's Prog
ress Should BE Torn Down.
[Philadelphia Eccord.l


There is probably no field of labor into
which women have ventured where they
have met with so much opposition as in
the practice of medicine Latterly great
hue and cry has been raised as to the in
capacity OF their physical systems to en-
dure the brainwork required of medical
student or a practicing physician. The
medical colleges have opened their doors
/ very gruGg.ngly to women where they
have opened them at all, and the nine
teenth century has taken great deal Of
credit to itself for having initiated the
movement by which women were enabled
to study meoicine on the same fsoting as
men. But l find that the employment of
women in a professional capacity is not in
any sense now idea, and the selr-com-
placent nineteenth century has but fol-
lowed out the example of bygone cent
urles.
Among the oldest Of enthusiastically
co-eval with that of Paris, ll09-were that
OF Bologna, famous for its law studies,
and that of Salerno, in Italy, for its achieve
ments in medicine. Three years study Of
logic had to be gone through before n stu
dent could enter the medical department.
There five years had to be spent, aud de.
gree Vsas not given until year had been
passed under Il skilled practising ply ysicinn.
Ii was realized in those days that 1t was
the grossest of inhumanity to place suffer.
ing humanity at the mercy of those who
had not learned as thoroughly as possible
the art of healing and in the whole Ro-
man Empire no man could practice medi-
cine who was merely accredited as having
been properly educatcd-a rule which the
nineteenth century would do we'll to adopt.
These are interesting facts, and quite as
interesting is that both Salerno and
Bologna women as well as mon were ad-
mitted to all the privileges of those uni
versities on equal footing, and for three
centuries their female graduates were in
good standing as physicians and as medi-
cal authors. In Bologna degrees in law
were conferred alike on learned rlen and
women; the gentler sex were not dcbarrea
from holding professorships. the study of
canon law requiring six, and that of civil
law eight years Thus it is seen that the
admission of women to the halls of our
universities IS not recent venture but
has all the sanction of ancient precedent
One OF the strongest arguments brought
to bear against the admission OF women to
medical colleges. and one which their op-
ponents invariably advance as clincher
is that women have not the nervous force
to learn dissection and perform surgical
operations. But it must be remembered
that in the Middle Ages the physicians
were mostly priests well and as they
were forbidden to shed blood by a canon
of the church all surgical operations fell
into the hands of low class of men, fre-
quently itinerants, and in some instances
BARRIERS. Women, therefore, at that
period were no more incompetent in that
line than male practitioners, and if they
prove unequal to surgical cases now they
Will only be where for centuries the most
famous physicians of tho world stood
In patience, observation, mastery of de-
tails ana skilled handiwork women are
eminently fitted for many forms of a i'd to
the sick. Duly educated, there seems to
be no reason why they should not share in
the work of healing. This, however, i'm
plies their admission 10 lecture and other
studies preparatory to their duties, and at
present, II these be pursued at all under
the most favora bic auspices, they must be
pursued in tho same classes with men.
There is a general libcralizing process 60
ing on, through which the schools of med
lclne are coming nearer together Is this
sentiment not far-reaching enough to open
wide the door of every medical school and
college in the land TO ambitious woman
hood.
A woman, it is said, founded the first
hospital, and there is no reason whv
women should not be generally employed
IN such institutions, not only as nurscs,
hut as physicians. Children and women
might certainly be exclusively under their
care. One advantage that must accrue to
women by giving her an equal chance in
the world with man is not commonly con-
sidered. She has her fair share Of lauda.
ble ambition. She wants TO be doing some
thing as truly as do those Of the stronger
sex. If she be debarred from the fields
where she may exercise creditable effort
she will find others for herself The dis
tlpctIon sought in social tTiumphs, political
intrigues. etc, is not always moral in it's
effect on herself or beneficial to the COM
mUnity. There is still another side 10 the
question. Many women are without dou bt
tempted to contract uncongenial marriages
from the fact that circumstances have pre-
vented their acquiring the education that
would nave enabled them to procure en-
pl0yment which would return to them an
adequate income. This fact alone should
induce every man TO do his utmost to tear
down every barrier TO woman's progress.
The theory OF co-education is generally
accepted. None but the most benighted
believe that tho mcdc3ty and gentieness of
our girls is assailed by listening to lee
turcs addressed to the male persuasion.
The narrow minded prejudice that
stin excludes thom from the priv
hege3 Of soTae medical colleges is un-
worthy tie progressive spirit Of the age.
There is every GrgGmcnt il favor Of the
extension Of woT2an's field in this direc
tion; but there are many difficulties in her
way under any circumstances, and the fact
'cmains thar tho most genial sphere for
many women is in the duties of the home
But there arc more women in the world
M TIn-y rr--Tf IL L. &
proportion Of them outside this sphere,
and any provision that can be made to
secure them from the inducement to in
triguc. from the sacrifice Of the best feel
ings, and frcm social Hypocrisy, and give
them honorable and useful employment
and enable them TO make the most OF their
Heaven-horn gifts, should, in the interest
OF humanity, be made. And it should be
made cheerfuliy and ungrudgingly.